See the bones of any poem
Paste a poem and get every line annotated with syllable count, stress pattern, meter, and rhyme scheme. No account. No server. The structure appears on your screen in under a second.
Analysis workspace
Paste up to 40 lines. Blank lines separate stanzas. The analysis updates as you type, or press Analyze for a full pass.
Saved in this browser
Paste a poem on the left and press Analyze poem.
Each line will appear here with its syllable count, stress map, meter label, and rhyme letter.
How to read the annotations
Syllable count
The number at the start of each line is how many syllables the analyzer counted. It uses a vowel-cluster heuristic plus a small lookup table for common exceptions like "fire", "every", and "different".
Stress map
Each syllable is markedunstressed (˘) or stressed (ˈ). Words of one syllable may be either depending on context, so single-syllable content words (nouns, verbs) are usually marked stressed while articles and prepositions are not.
Meter label
The meter label for a line is the foot pattern that best fits its stress map. Common ones are iambic (˘ˈ), trochaic (ˈ˘), anapestic (˘ˈ), and dactylic (ˈ˘). A line that does not settle into a pattern is marked "irregular".
Rhyme letters
Lines that share an ending sound get the same letter. The first rhyme is A, the next new ending is B, and so on. A line with no partner gets a dot. This follows the standard ABAB convention used in textbooks.
What this project assumes
- The poem is in English and uses standard spelling.
- One physical line in the input equals one line of verse.
- Blank lines mark stanza breaks.
- Meter is approximate. Poets break their own patterns on purpose, so a label like "iambic pentameter" describes the baseline, not a rule the poet obeyed without exception.
Common mistakes when reading metern
- Reading every stressed syllable loudly. In real reading, some stressed syllables are softer than others. The marks show position in the pattern, not volume.
- Expecting a perfect grid. Almost every sonnet has at least one line that bends the pattern. That variation is part of the craft, not an error.
- Confusing syllable count with meter. A line can have ten syllables and still not be iambic if the stresses fall in the wrong places.
Reference gallery
Pre-annotated examples. Click any card to load it into the workspace.
Stanza form glossary
- Couplet
- Two consecutive lines, usually rhymed AA. The building block of many English forms.
- Tercet
- Three lines. May rhyme AAA, ABA, or run unrhymed.
- Quatrain
- Four lines. The most common stanza unit in English verse. Common rhymes: ABAB, AABB, ABBA.
- Sonnet
- 14 lines of iambic pentameter. Petrarchan sonnets divide into an octave (ABBAABBA) and a sestet. Shakespearean sonnets use three quatrains and a couplet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG).
- Villanelle
- 19 lines of iambic pentameter with two repeating refrains and two rhymes. Pattern: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2.
- Limerick
- Five anapestic lines rhyming AABBA. Lines 1, 2, and 5 are longer; lines 3 and 4 are shorter.
- Haiku
- Three unrhymed lines, traditionally 5, 7, and 5 syllables. Focuses on a single image and a seasonal reference.
- Ode
- A longer lyric poem with irregular line lengths and stanza patterns, addressed to a person, place, or thing.
Side-by-side comparison
Load two poems and see their structures next to each other. Useful for studying how two poets handle the same form.
When to trust the result and when to question it
The analyzer works by matching words against a small stress dictionary and applying a vowel-cluster syllable counter. It handles common English verse well. It will struggle with proper nouns, archaic spellings, made-up words, and any meter that deliberately breaks its own rule for effect. If a line looks wrong, read it aloud. Your ear is the final judge.
For teaching, we suggest projecting the annotated result and asking students to argue with it. A line that the tool marks irregular but the class reads as iambic is a better lesson than one everyone agrees on.